Recently I’ve been consulting with a lot of startups employing several young and eager developers. My role has been to help with general architectural questions and be a source of knowledge on industry standards.

To that end I’m starting a series on less complex programming concepts focusing on mobile and server development. They will usually only cover one concept but will be good reference.

I’m starting with Android and how to compile code to an Android device.

Becoming an Android Developer

If you’re a developer and have wanted more control over your Android devices to either develop code or to just poke around you need to activate the hidden developer mode menu.

  • Go into your settings app then scroll to “About phone”.
  • On devices above Android 8.0 click “System”.
  • Click “About phone” and scroll until you see “Build number”.
  • Click “Build number” 7 times or until a popup appears saying “You are now a developer”.

If you’re using a TV or other device it the options might be differently worded, like “About” or “About tablet” instead of “About phone”. My Mi Box S says “About” and my Nexus 9 says “About tablet”

You now have the developer mode enabled and can sideload apps and control your device via USB.